State Will Hold Four More Meetings on Medicaid Revamp

By SFR

On Friday, the New Mexico Human Services Department announced two additional public hearings and two other meetings on its proposed Medicaid revamp. The first hearing will be held Monday, June 25 in Santa Fe.

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Last month, after nearly a year (and more than $1 million) spent quietly working on a proposal to overhaul New Mexico's Medicaid program, the state submitted its proposal to federal authorities for review.

The proposal aimed to trim Medicaid costs in various ways. One change would require all Native Americans in the Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income residents, to use state-contracted health care providers (known as managed-care organizations, or MCOs) rather than using tribal or local programs.

But many tribal residents found this approach problematic—and, as SFR

reported earlier this month

, felt that their particular concerns weren't heard or incorporated into the revamp proposal.

Matt Kennicott, the spokesman for HSD, the state agency that manages Medicaid within New Mexico, told SFR that the feds didn't reject the revamp proposal, but announced on Friday that the state would "seek additional input." From the presser:

Care about the future of Medicaid in New Mexico? Check out these meetings (from the presser, again):

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